Oct 19, 2011 Author: Carrie Moore
Greenbuild wrapped up on Oct. 7th in Toronto. This was CaraGreen’s fifth year attending the conference and despite the lack of growth in the overall building industry, there is a growing green building economy and there was plenty of excitement and inspiration to be had.
The theme of the conference and expo was “NEXT” and based on what I saw (admitting a bias towards interior non-structural materials), materials seem to be the next frontier for the USGBC. The Materials and Resource section of LEED is getting a complete overhaul for the next release in 2012. With the changes proposed, we can expect real innovation from manufacturers as they work toward material optimization from a health, environment, and social perspective.
The MR section of LEED is evolving toward transparency, the avoidance of chemicals of concern, responsible sourcing of raw materials, and end of life considerations. Overall, LEED 2012 is adopting a preference for multi-attribute assessment of materials vs. single attribute assessments. This is a leap forward for our industry expanding the definition of what is ‘green’. As most of us know, just because a product doesn’t off-gas or just because it has recycled content, doesn’t mean that it is sustainable, healthy, or manufactured under safe and fair conditions.
The call for transparency is coming from owners, specifiers, and occupants who want to know exactly where the product is coming from, what’s in it, what’s its impact during use, and what will its impact be at the end of its useful life. Credits have been drafted to address many of these questions and it looks like we can expect Life Cycle Assessments to take a major role in the future of materials.
One area of transparency that can be difficult to make sense of is the ‘chemicals of concern’. Various groups from the EPA to Healthy Building Network and large firms like Perkins+Will and Google have lists of chemicals they want to eliminate to improve indoor air quality and human health. The problem is, lists can vary from one organization to the other, manufacturers don’t consistently know their chemical make-ups down to the parts per million (often due to the depth of their supply chain), and reporting formats vary so comparing products is very difficult.
A promising solution, The Health Product Declaration (HPD) Forum, a group of building designers, specifiers, owners and users, have developed the HPD Open Standard. This form is a voluntary, open standard for the communication of product content and associated health information for building products. Establishing protocols for reporting this information in a consistent manner will help building professionals quickly and easily find the information they need. It will help manufacturers by standardizing the information they need to provide to answer the increasing number of inquiries on these issues. It will also facilitate the integration of building product data into certification programs, product databases and design software.
The open process and database has the potential to encourage widespread industry participation and adoption. Check out the form here and let us know if your firm is moving in the same direction.
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May 23, 2011 Author: Carrie Moore
CaraGreen just returned from the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) in New York where we make the annual pilgrimage to scout for new and notable sustainable design trends. This year, we saw an impressive display of sustainable materials being used in contemporary furniture design – much more than in previous years. Other themes included urban farming solutions, LED lighting advancements, and attention to carbon footprint and end of life use of furnishings.
Here are our favorite examples of thoughtful furniture and lighting that incorporate materials that are recycled, rapidly renewable, reclaimed, and/or sustainably-harvested from the show:
- Furniture using 100% recycled paper panels from Token – very durable and beautiful
- Recycled cardboard lights from Graypants
- Recycled beer bottles recast into light fixtures by iQEnvironments
- Used skateboards recycled into colorful tiles with tons of character by Art of Board
An unexpected treat…As New Yorker’s embrace the local food movement, there is a market for urban chicken coops. RAAD design has set the standard, creating a modern, luxury, solar powered hen house. It ships flat-packed and is easily assembled. Not just for roof-top farmers!
LED lighting continues to gain momentum as bulb and color options expand and as prices come down. Replacing incandescent bulbs with LEDs reduces energy consumption by 85% - very sustainable. One light design takes sustainability even further. Designer Magnus Wästberg used Durapulp, a mix of wood pulp and a thermoplastic made from corn or sugarcane, and low-voltage LEDs, to create the DuraPulp lamp (in picture). The LEDs reduce the voltage and amps needed so minimal wires are required, allowing them to be safely embedded in paper. This product moves beyond sustainable materials to sustainable solutions at every phase of the supply chain. A lumber company finds another use for the pulp that is often a byproduct of softwood lumber production. A chemist creates a plastic made from biomaterial versus petroleum. A designer manipulates the material for strength and form. The result is a beautifully design, energy saving, affordable, product that is compostable at the end of its life.
Another example of the evolution of sustainable design was forefront in the University of Oregon’s exhibition, 'The Shape of Sustainability is...Flat?'. This project explores flat pack furniture and life cycle analysis of furniture designed by students. The University of Oregon Product Design Program challenges current understandings of sustainable design, researches new possibilities, and defines new methods. Each student’s design embodied traditional design principles while quantifying environmental impacts from harvest through end of life.It is exciting to see sustainable design and life cycle thinking incorporated from design education to commercial products. We are already looking forward to next years offerings!
To see additional photos and postings from ICFF, visit our Facebook Page.
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Nov 29, 2010 Author: Lisa Feldman
Another Greenbuild has come and gone and it was informative and enlightening as always. Located in Chicago this year, it had twice as much floor space as the 2007 event in the same venue. Just goes to show how far we have come in three years. With over 1,000 exhibitors, navigating the floor was quite a task but I and my colleague managed to take it all in. With the obvious focus on energy and water efficiency, much of the expo was devoted to this, but there were still a lot of things to see in the materials department as well. Manufacturers we work with such as Torzo and UltraTouch cotton insulation all had new things to show – Torzo has a new flooring product and UltraTouch unveiled perforated insulation to make it easier to install.
We also took a day to participate in the educational offerings the show has to offer. Presentations on everything from reducing carbon emissions to producing green products to how to make our schools greener are available, with experts in each area to help educate us on things we can do to make our environments – indoor and out - greener and healthier. The over-riding message in all of these courses was that if we as consumers, specifiers, manufacturers, builders, etc., are passionate and educated in our beliefs about sustainable living, and we share that passion with others, we really can change the world.
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Nov 13, 2009 Author: Stacy Glass
With 28,000 attendees and over 1000 exhibitors at Greenbuild in Phoenix, there was much to be seen at this year's show. We had our work cut out for us making it through the crowds to see all of the exhibitors in two days, but we did it. We saw many new products that excited us, including the latest offererings from our manufacturers who exhibited there, who are continually improving and expanding their offerings. Here are some of the highlights of what is coming from them in 2010:
TorZo Surfaces
- Edge banding! These strong, durable, and sustainable sheet goods are great for tabletops, desks, cabinets, etc. With edge banding coming out for the entire line, not only will the finished product be more beautiful, but the fabrication will be more cost effective.
- ½” Seeta (sunflower seed hull) boards that are more dense (fewer voids) and less expensive than the standard ¾” sheets – a great option for this unique look.
- We got a sneak preview of some new bio-based boards currently in development. They are top secret now, but stay tuned for new unique looks from this line of surfaces.
Bonded Logic /UltraTouch
- Duct insulation and Pipe wrap: Finally! You no longer need to wrap your duct work and pipe in fiberglass. This foil laminated, r-8, cotton fiber insulation has 85% recycled rapidly-renewable cotton fibers. The duct insulation will come in 12” wide, 2” thick, and 15’ long bundles. The pipe wrap is 3” wide, ½” thick, and 50’ long.
Coverings, Etc.
- Bio-Aluminum: 100% recycled aluminum from salvaged aircraft carriers. 100% recyclable and Cradle to Cradle certified. A great new option for high-traffic flooring and high-end wall treatments.
As samples and pricing become available, we will announce these new products through our monthly newsletter and on our website.
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